Steve & I competed in the Kingston Bunker Rat's FOW 2016 Doubles Competition this weekend. 3 Axis & 3 Allied teams fought 3 Axis v. Allied rounds. Each team had two companies of about 1,250 pts to give armies of 2,500 pts max. The period was very Late War. The venue was a games store in Kingston. Our Kampfgruppe Kromwell comprised two Reluctant Veteran Panzergrenadier coys:
Jim's: HQ Stug, 3x Stg, 3x Panther, Gepanzergrenadier, 4x Heavy Mortars.
Steve's: HQ Panther, 3x Panther, 3 x Stug, Gepanzergrenadier, 3x AA HT.
Game 1 was our worst nightmare. We drew Smithy & Pat's Soviet army with 3 large heavy batteries on a snow table where all movement was difficult (no bogging rolls. but max move 10cm for HT's, 20cm for tanks & no doubling - in a Dust Up scenario. It got worse when they won the dice-off to chose table side & we got the side with the least cover. Anything we moved out hiding got instantly smashed by artillery. We considered a 5:2 loss a good result under the circumstances.
Game 2 was a distinct improvement - we faced Leigh & Stu's British on a more friendly table, us attacking in a Breakthrough scenario. This time we could use the mobility of our entirely mounted force. Steve swept around their right flank while most of my coy came in from behind them as the Delayed Reserve. The plan was initially disrupted a bit by the double British Battery, but one large enemy battery was almost a pleasure after the previous game. The pincer move wasn't mucked up by the dice gods & worked a treat giving us a satisfying 5:2 win.
The last game was against another Soviet army lead by Rusty. All three games were a linked Total War Scenario played in simultaneous turns, but in practice everyone got totally involved in their own interest & there was no cross table action. VPs were gained by holding objectives (1 or pts per turn held) or killing enemy platoons (1VP per 100 pts destroyed). Once again we had a mission that allowed us to use our mobility and only had one heavy battery to deal with. Again we had a good plan & it all came together. We grabbed the points-rich central objective straight up, weakened the enemy as they tried to counterattack & finally went back on the offensive & all but destroyed them.
Smithy & Pat were the best Allied team. Steve & I were the best Axis team. Both winning teams lead their comrades on the same side by big margins, with Smithy & Pat being undefeated and picking a few more VPs than us.
Kampfgruppe Kromwell gets back the coverted wrecked Cromwell for best Axis players.
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